1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laser apparatus, system and method using a laser crystal pumped with a diode laser, or more particularly, to a laser apparatus, system and method using a thulium-doped yttrium-lithium-fluoride (YLF) laser crystal pumped with a diode laser.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, interest has increased concerning the development of lasers capable of generating laser light in a wavelength range from one to ten micrometers. Such lasers are expected to be increasingly used in medical or communication applications, for example. The usefulness of such lasers for medical applications is demonstrated below with reference to FIG. 1.
For many prospective medical applications, lasers will be required to generate laser light at a wavelength which is highly absorbed by organic tissue to reduce or eliminate damage to organic tissue during medical treatment using such lasers. In FIG. 1, a graph of the absorption coefficient of organic tissue as a function of radiation wavelength indicates several peak absorption coefficients (such as that labelled A) in the range of wavelengths from one to ten micrometers. By using a laser light having a wavelength at or near a peak absorption coefficient of organic tissue, it is expected that extraneous damage to organic tissue will be reduced or avoided in medical applications.
While many conventional lasers have been developed which generate laser light having wavelengths from one to ten micrometers, such conventional lasers generally suffer from one or more disadvantages which limit their use for many applications. For example, many of such conventional lasers require tuning techniques and associated tuning elements, to adjust the laser light output therefrom to an appropriate wavelength. Such tuning techniques and associated elements generally increase the size, expense and/or complication of these conventional lasers, and/or require a relatively high degree of skill to operate. Also, many of such conventional lasers require a relatively large amount of power to operate, and/or have performances which are undesirably dependent upon temperature.